Cat saves family: "He's been waiting his whole life to do this one heroic thing."

by Christian Hauser, WKRC

WKRC

GREEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKRC) -- The Kecskes family knew something was wrong Tuesday morning when they were awoken by the family cat.

It turned out to be carbon monoxide. Investigators said the trouble started with a gas boiler in the basement. The family can't use it again until it is professionally serviced.

Ariana Kecskes says the family cat, the normally quiet Mr. Boo, is the hero of the day. Mr. Boo is a rescue the family has had for about seven years.

"I woke up to my cat meowing. He never meows. He usually just squeaks or doesn't meow at all. It's actually kind of a joke in our family,” Kecskes said.

But Mr. Boo wasn't being quiet Tuesday morning. He did whatever it took to get the family alerted something wasn't right.

"He was sort of stumbling down the hallway and he just kept meowing. He seemed to kind of want us to get us out of the house,” Kecskes said. "He passed out so many times trying to wake us all up and that's just amazing because he's never really meowed before. It's like he's been waiting his whole life to do this one heroic thing."

Ariana passed out in the hallway.

"My dad and my brother actually carried me out and that's when I woke up again and then he got my brother out and then he grabbed a few things and got my mom on the front porch. She got my cat, Mr. Boo out,” Kecskes said.

Even the family’s other cat was helping out.

"Our other cat actually walked in and kind of revived him because he was knocked out and our other cat kind of sniffed him like, 'Hey, get up.' So, we were all just working together,” Kecskes said.

Everyone, including Mr. Boo is safe but the family knows they're extremely lucky.